A/N:
Just taking a moment to thank the person the newest band was named for. Akira-chan 101, in addition to writing nice reviews to this story also has sent some very kind PMs to me, one of which was very timely in reminding me that people liked this work so I had to pick up the writing again when i was slacking. In thanks to her Akira 1OH!1 was born. Also for you Kazama fan's *cough* 14Phantom *cough* a little surprise.
Also today I am using a song suggested by Sakura Otome...hope you like it.
I do not own anything to do with Hakuouki. Just the OCs...well sort of.
Chapter 13
~Akira 1Oh!1; Nightmare~
Unknown Point of View:
I was sick of waiting. A decade was more than enough time to ponder the meanings and reasonings as to why I desired what I wanted. I was sure if that female brat could use that power, I could to. I just had to find out where she had taken them. Hell I would even bring a gift. It was time to call for the strong hand and the gun man. The former would come out of a sense of obligation to me. The latter, because it was fun.
The reasons behind my actions had somehow become about him, rather than that brat he protected, which was just as well. It would bring us to where the heart wanted to go. So, power…bring me to the Oni of the Pale Sakura Blossom.
Ryane's Point of View:
Shukke was up to something. She kept glancing from me to Hajime with that same stupid smile on her face. The smile that had not left her lips since she woke up this morning. Asking her would not avail much, so I would just have to wait it out. She would get bored and tell me before too long.
Tonight was battle night, the fourth out of what would be ten, and the band was practicing Hijikata's song when Shukke's phone went off causing her to head to the kitchen. I was getting up to follow but Hajime stopped me by asking some bullshit question about the vocal arrangements. That's when I knew; they were all up to something.
A few moments later Shukke came back to the living room and plopped down on the couch, nothing noticeably different in her appearance or attitude except that she stared straight at Shinpachi. In response he played a drum solo before calming down and going through the planned beats for the song again.
That's it I was going to kill her and use the power of Divination to get the answers from her intestines! I wanted to know what they were up to! It never occurred to me to ask Hajime. He was the weak link in the information chain when it came to me, so I would probably have gotten my answers, but instead practice continued as usual.
Oooooooh
It's your fucking nightmare.
The song concluded a final time and Shukke immediately jumped up and demanded everyone get to the bus. Thusly herded she drove us to the mall. "I have decided!" She proclaimed. "We are going to the club after next week's battle. You two," and here she turned her nose up at me and Cat, "Need party clothes."
"Really Shukke?" Cat whined.
"I thought they were supposed to be keeping a low profile." I pointed out, gesturing to the band where they stood behind me.
"If you just do what she says I will tell you how Souji knew how to bowl," Hajime offered in a conspiratorial whisper.
"Hey!" Okita sparked up, "That was supposed to be our secret, you swore."
Cat and I glanced at each other before nodding. "Deal!" She agreed happily.
"She's gonna kill you~" Heisuke laughed from beside Chizuru.
"How do you know?" Okita sneered.
"I happened to pass by while heading to the bathroom that night." He chortled. "You guys were going on about aim practice in Ryane's room."
"Wait… Aim practice?" I asked confused.
"That's what she said." Heisuke crowed; laughing as he danced away from Hajime's annoyed swipe.
"Children have such impressionable minds." Okita retorted for the vocalist.
We were all still in the food court when the air contracted and my ears popped. In a sense of Déjà vu I saw the air crackling by the wall of the Burger King. I didn't realize I was screaming until I felt a warm hand muffling the sounds of terror as they left my mouth.
The eyes of cold blooded killers looked out of my friends faces as they looked on the four figures, one with his sword at the throat of a hidden fifth who seemed to be unconscious. The security guard looked freaked out, as did the patrons of the mall. No one moved or made a sound.
A few minutes went by before I heard a very blonde very disdainful man drawl, "I see, so that's how it goes."
"Kazama!" Hijikata snarled, moving to step in front of Chizuru. The movement was greeted by a smirk on Kazama's face and a light guffaw from the purple haired man to his right.
"Chizuru?" The littlest of the new arrivals quested forth a huge grin on his face. "Chizuru!"
"That's far enough Kaoru." Kazama announced; his sword moving from the unconscious man slumped on the floor behind the largest man with them to block Chizuru's twin's path. "Remember, I brought you back, you listen to me!" To which Kaoru nodded and took three steps back to where he originally stood.
"Hakuouki." Kazama acknowledged his adversary for the first time. "I believe I have something that belongs to you. You and I will fashion for ourselves a modern duel. I will find something you and your cohorts excel at and steal it from you. In the meantime, I return this to you. Amagiri to one side. Shiranui" He turned to address the man with long purple hair, "get ready to leave."
And Amagiri moved to reveal the unconscious man in the process of running from the mall. Shiranui stopped in front of the Shinsengumi, shocked, though.
"You brought them all back?" He asked Chizuru as he stared at the risen samurai. "Harada…" His eyes were drinking in the visage of his one-time ally like the man would disappear from the face of the earth again anytime.
"Still friends?" Harada asked with a smile.
The purple haired Oni just looked behind him to where Kazama appeared and replied, "I never said we were in the first place." And booked it towards the door. While this went on Souji simply fell to his knees in thanks, leaving a very confused Cat staring at the gruff man slumped at the wall at Burger King.
Following her gaze I saw the reason behind Okita's thanks. Slumped there, oblivious to his new life, the gift of umarekawaru, sat Isami Kondou.
The other captains of the Shinsengumi all rushed to their commander while Souji continued to stare at the ground, stunned. Reaching him they all helped Shinpachi load the man onto his back and headed for the door. We got to the bus before the mall patrons even began to stir. "Shukke, drive." I commanded.
"But I…" She tried to argue, curiosity alight in her eyes.
"Shukke, please!" I begged.
"Fine," she agreed glumly.
"You can ask questions later," I promised.
While we had argued the driving detail the Shinsengumi had lowered Kondou down onto the bus floor with Chizuru at his head. She placed her hand palm up on his forehead before delicately slicing into her other palm and holding the cut hand over Kondou-san's mouth which was slightly agape. With the little bit of blood he received the commander's eyes fluttered open and he took in his surroundings with confusion written on his face.
"Nani…" He began, only to have Hijikata cut him off.
"In English, Commander. There are some people here who do not understand Japanese."
"Toshi?" The newly revived man looked around the group of people surrounding him in a daze. "What happened? Where am I? What is this language I am speaking? How do I know it? Am I dead? I remember a blade chopping my head off. Is this paradise?" With the last question Shukke barked a laugh from the driver's seat.
"Paradise, he says." Looking into the mirror above her head Shukke took on the task of explaining. "You died, but those Oni…Kazama and his gang brought you back to life and forward around one hundred fifty years to America. It's the year 2013. As for the language, whatever those Oni did, and whatever Chizuru did to bring back the Shinsengumi before you, it re-hardwires your mind. Gives you information you would have had if you lived here. Like the language, which is English. Right now you are in a bus owned by myself and the other two unknown faces in here. My name is Shukke. Or rather, that's what you're going to call me." Turning her attention back to the road, we felt the bus swerve to the left suddenly and Shukke lay on the horn, causing the samurai to exclaim in surprise and Chizuru to scream.
"Relax," I cautioned, "It was bound to happen eventually. Shukke is a lunatic when it comes to driving. It's like her personality flails around and becomes something else."
"Basically just sit down and buckle up." Cat added for me.
"She wasn't like this before," Sannan pointed out.
"She's used to you now." I explained.
"Great," was the general, if slightly sarcastic consensus.
We made it home without too much incident, but the ride was quiet and question-less as the Shinsengumi tried to maintain composure with Shukke being a maniac behind the wheel. I think she just took to swerving to hear Chizuru scream though, because she leaned heavy on the wheel way more than usual and the young Oni girl would shriek each time.
When she parked in the lawn, Heisuke was the first off as he kneeled in the yard and kissed the ground. "That was the worst!" He whined. "Thank everything bright and beautiful I am still alive!" Shukke just chuckled as she got off last before walking to the front door and unlocking it.
"We have an hour before we have to load everything and head out, so let's figure out where Kondou-san is gonna stay. There is not much space in the living room for another, unless one of you wants to bed elsewhere." She said calmly, ignoring the fact that the samurai were hedging away from her nervously.
Okita looked over at Cat slyly before stating, "I can find a different room to sleep in. On the floor of course." Cat rolled her eyes but didn't complain.
"Wait," Kondou began, confused, "Load everything?"
"The instruments and everything." Shukke said without explaining much. "You will see."
The rest of the time before load up was spent with the band and Chizuru welcoming Kondou and acquainting him with the house. While he wasn't as surprised as Sannan about the TV or as excited about Hijikata about the books that mostly I owned, he did seem very intrigued by my computer, which he saw as we passed my open door. The background I was currently using was a switching affair of pictures from the anime that I had seen about the Shinsengumi. As we passed it was changing from a picture of Hajime in a bamboo forest, bloody and holding his sword, to a group photo. His face went dark as moments later it switched to a picture of Kazama, causing him to storm in much to my displeasure.
"Hey!" I protested.
"What is that? Why is he on there?" Kondou raged at me.
"Because I like the picture, shouldn't you be at least a little grateful to him? He brought you back to your friends, regardless of ulterior motive that deserves some amount of thanks." The man bristled as the Shinsengumi piled in.
The picture switched to one of Kondou and Souji back to back, Kondou with a paternal grin on his face while Souji had his typical sneer. "I don't approve," I told him as he stared in wonder at it, "Of what Kazama did to Chizuru or to any of you. I do find him to be a complex and interesting character though, driven by his honor and the code he lives by. He was a major part of the show, and was, in fact, a major part of your lives. Don't be mad at me for celebrating that."
"This show," Kondou asked, "Can I watch it?"
"I think it might just hurt to remember your old life," I said seriously. "But I can show you them if you like."
"Is it on YouTube?" Souji asked all of a sudden.
"How do you know about YouTube?" Cat wanted to know, "you have never been on Ryane's computer."
"That's how he knew how to bowl," Hajime explained in a quiet voice, "He snuck on her computer and looked it up while she was sleeping."
My vision went black. "He did what? When?"
"That night you had a nightmare," Hajime said, creeping back a step at a time before I could explode.
"You knew!?" I was beyond mad.
"Yeah that's why he had you go right back to sleep instead of talking about it, I was sitting right there the whole time." Okita enlightened with a laugh.
"She's gonna kill you~" Heisuke sang out.
My hand went to my sword and I was only stopped by Kondou-san's whistle of admiration. "What!" I snapped at him.
"You got Hajime to give you one of his prized swords…Impressive." He replied.
"It wasn't contrived." I assured him a bit tartly, still angry.
"Even more impressive then." Kondou raised his hands in a portrayal of innocence. "Would you rather not I used your computer to watch that show Miss?" He sounded reluctant to offer the withdrawal and I could tell he really did want to know what the show could possibly tell him, so I conceded defeat.
"You can use it, but only because you asked. I am madder that these fools just used it, and then hid it because they knew I would be angry. If they had just told me then I would have been fine."
"Sorry Ry-chan," Hajime was rubbing his neck with one hand and looking at the floor. He seemed honestly distressed by my being angry so I relented and assured him that it was okay.
"Just don't do it again…at least don't try to hide it."
"Time's a ticking…" Shukke called from near the stairs and looking at the clock on my wall we all piled out to load the weapons the Shinsengumi used as Umarekawaru.
Luckily we got to the venue early again so we could shove Kondou into a seat next to Chizuru without any fuss. The ten minutes between our arrival and the beginning of the battles was spent in silence, though Cat kept peering at the Commander of the Shinsengumi like she had questions, probably about Okita, that she kept to herself.
The announcers came on amidst cheers and applause to call forth Falling Wisteria, and the show began. Half way through the show I forced myself to pay attention as Akira 1Oh!1 was announced.
There stood the man from my nightmare his cross earring slightly crooked and his bitten nails sporting a new coat of black polish. "Hey we are Akira One…"
He paused holding the mic to the crowd who yelled "Oh!"
"One." He picked up the flow seamlessly, "And this is our newest song, Relapse Collapse." Their pianist introduced the song with a lovely melody before the vocalist began, their disc jockey starting up around the same time,
Bring back hollow reputations.
It's giving me what I desire.
And I desire to find the words you need to hear.
The band came in full as the vocalist started screaming the words
Kill. Kill. Kill. Your demons.
Face. Face. Face. Your fears.
Fight. Fight. With no discretion.
Die. Die. Die. Alone.
Again he was singing to the music his band made
I am the messenger; I am the one you trust with your last breath.
And you're missing the point.
You're missing the point of these words.
You've caused the blood that's on your hands.
It was beautiful. The bassist would take over the screaming parts when they coincided with the parts that the vocalist needed to sing creating a melody like no other, and I had to wonder why Raven's Cry was ahead of these guys. Talent-wise they so had them. Akira 1Oh!1 was on par with 14Phantom. The music stopped until Raven's Cry was announced and when they came on the crowd was going nuts.
Raven's Cry played their usual upbeat electro-pop type of song with the vocalist show boating the whole time. If they hadn't acted out against me and Cat I probably would have liked them but because they had I kept noticing flaws. A missed note here, a crack of the vocals there. They finished with a flourish and 14Phantom came on while I looked to Kondou who was excited and clapping happily after each performance. At least he is enjoying himself.
14Phantom played a ballad this week. Something sweet and kind of sad that would have sounded great on the radio. I looked over my shoulder and saw lighters flickering on around the room. They finished abruptly and bowed before walking offstage, the vocalist's orange hair sporting what looked like plastic carrots. As usual the lights were turned off and the crowd, knowing who was coming next, cheered louder than ever.
Hijikata MC'd this week. "Hey we are Umarekawaru. This week you'll be hearing my song, Nightmare. That being said, the reason I do this is to stay by my nakamas' sides. My friends, my comrades, my band. This is Nightmare."
Sannan began on the keyboard, playing a haunting melody and then came the rest of the band in a creepy sort of song.
(NIGHTMARE!) Hijikata screamed.
Hajime entered his voice rough and uneven.
Now your nightmare comes to life.
Dragged you down below
Down to the devils show
To be his guest forever
(Peace of mind is less than never)
Hate to twist your mind
But God ain't on your side
An old acquaintance severed
(Burn the world your last endeavor)
Flesh is burning
You can smell it in the air
Cause men like you have such an easy soul to steal (steal)
So stand in line while they ink numbers in your head
You're now a slave until the end of time here
(Nothing stops the madness turning, haunting, yearning pull the trigger)
You should have known
The price of evil
And it hurts to know that you belong here
Yeah
Oooooooh
It's your fucking nightmare
(While your nightmare comes to life)
Can't wake up in sweat
Cause it ain't over yet
Still dancing with your demons
(Victim of your own creation)
Beyond the will to fight
Where all that's wrong is right
Where hate don't need a reason
(Loathing self-assassination)
You've been lied to
Just to rape you of your sight
And now they have the nerve to tell you how to feel (feel)
So sedated as they medicate your brain
And while you slowly go insane they tell ya
("Given with the best intentions, help you with your complications")
There was some heavy instrumentals before
Souji let out some maniacal laughter that the crowd shivered to before he started in on the bridge with Hijikata.
Fight (Fight! ). not to fail (fail! )
Not to fall (fall! )
Or you'll end up like the others
Die (Die! ), die again (die! )
Drenched in sin (sin! )
With no respect for another
(OH!)
Down(Down! ), feel the fire(fire! )
Feel the hate(hate! )
Your pain is what we desire
Lost (Lost! ), hit the wall (wall! )
Watch you crawl (crawl! )
Such a replaceable liar
And then Hajime was picking the vocals up again.
And I know you hear their voices
(Calling from above)
And I know they may seem real
(These signals of love)
But our life's made up of choices
(Some without appeal)
They took for granted your soul
And it's ours now to steal
(As your nightmare comes to life)
Oooooh
It's your fucking nightmare.
The venue's audience was so load I couldn't think, I just stood on my feet and cheered wildly. Over the noise I heard the same three girls at it again.
"Oh that voice." The middle one moaned.
"I'll take the one that was screaming…" The girl to the left offered with a smile.
"Dibs on the other one then." The one on the right asserted. I really wanted to point out that they had just picked the three guys who were taken in the band, but I held my peace for now. To be honest it was amusing, and I just had to keep telling myself that.
We listened to the announcements for rankings, and I was pleased that Akira 1Oh!1 beat out Raven's Cry this week. Our boys won again with 14Phantom pulling in second again. Steve's band ranked up one spot finally too.
"Thank you," Hijikata said on a microphone, once more outside on the roof. "See you soon." And he turned off the mic as fans of all age race and gender ran for the door to try and see the members of Umarekawaru. Cat, Kondou, Shukke, Chizuru and I waded through the crowd to the bus which we drove to the same pick up spot as last time.
We got home at 11:30 and I was heading to bed when I heard Shukke tell Hajime, "Remember Saito, 8:00 tomorrow night," before he headed to my room with me, Kondou looking on confused.
Songs used in this Chapter:
Nightmare by Avenge Sevenfold (Umarekawaru's song: Recommended by Sakura Otome {I tried to get Hijikata to sing as much as possible without having Saito just sit there.})
Relapse Collapse by In Fear And Faith (Akira 1Oh!1's song)